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BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day of Opening
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 22 May 2005 20:40:09 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Thomas Leavitt <thomas () thomasleavitt org> Date: May 22, 2005 8:17:28 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: dewayne () warpspeed comSubject: Re: BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day of Opening
a) raise your hand if you think seeing a working print of "Revenge of the
Sith" in a small box in low resolution on a portion of your 17" computerscreen is an adequate substitute for seeing it in a modern first run movie
house? No takers? I see. I doubt the numbers would move much, even if the video was viewable fullscreen in high resolution - a trip to the movies is about the experience, not the content. Personally, if someone handed me a professionally mastered DVD of the thing, I wouldn't view it. At least not till after Friday, when I'm scheduled to see it with my wife a friend or two. I'm doing my best toavoid even commentary about it, to avoid running into a "spoiler"... I saw
the original when I was six years old, at the Orion Cinemadome in Los Angeles. b) I'd like to see the MPAA explain exactly who is "profiting" from the distribution of Revenge of the Sith via BitTorrent?c) I'd also like the MPAA to show me a single study showing that even one
movie has been rendered unprofitable by online filetrading Regards, Thomas Leavitt From: David Farber <dave () farber net>Subject: BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day
of Opening Date: Sun, 22 May 2005 09:54:14 -0400 Begin forwarded message: From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Date: May 21, 2005 8:24:07 PM EDT To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day of Opening Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com [Note: Here's my take on this. There is a certain amount of spin going on here by the MPAA. The copy of SW that appeared on the Darknet was an internal final working print. Someone on the inside of Lucasfilm or affiliated with the company had to have stolen this copy in order for it to appear. From that point on, the Darknet just became a very efficient distribution mechanism. Folks were using other protocols besides BT to move the film around. Tagging BT alone here by the MPAA is a bit disingenuous. DLH] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 19, 2005 BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day of Opening Statement by MPAA President Dan Glickman Washington, D.C. - - Responding to news reports today that BitTorrent is already facilitating the illegal file sharing of the final Star Wars episode, Revenge of the Sith which opens in theaters today, Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) President and CEO Dan Glickman made the following statement: “There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith. The unfortunate fact is this type of theft happens on a regular basis on peer to peer networks all over the world. “Fans have been lined up for days to see Revenge of the Sith. To preserve the quality of movies for fans like these and so many others, we must stop these Internet thieves from illegally trading valuable copyrighted materials on-line. “If piracy and those who profit from it are allowed to flourish, they will erode an engine of economic growth and job creation; undermine legitimate businesses that strive to unite technology and content in innovative and legal ways and limit quality and consumer choice.” Glickman said that the average movie costs $98 million to make and market. Less than one in ten movies re-coup their original investment from the domestic box office and six in ten never recoup their investment . The average BitTorrent network has up to 2.5 million users a day. The movie industry is the only industry with a positive balance of trade in countries with which it does business. Copyrighted industries are responsible for an estimated $626 billion of the total gross domestic product. “My message to illegal file swappers everywhere is plain and simple: You are stealing, it is wrong and you are not anonymous,” said Glickman. “In short, you can click, but you can't hide. There are lots of ways to legally download our products through companies like CinemaNow, Movielink, Ruckus and others.” The Motion Picture Association is engaged in an all out effort to root out Internet movie thieves and make them pay the consequences of illegally downloading and swapping movies on-line. It has hundreds of investigators looking into these kinds of cases worldwide and has already been successful in shutting down several BitTorrent type sites. As part of its anti-piracy effort, the MPAA and its member companies have brought lawsuits against many Internet movie thieves across the United States and plan to continue such action. About the MPAA: The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries from its offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. These members include: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.; Paramount Pictures; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal Studios from Universal City Studios; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. # # # MPAA Los Angeles Kori Bernards Anne Caliguiri (818) 995-6600 MPAA Washington, DC John Feehery Gayle Osterberg (202) 293-1966 Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com> ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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